LAFAYETTE -- Several small business owners across Boulder County expressed frustration and bewilderment Wednesday about an impending Xcel Energy prohibition on all banners and flags mounted to utility-owned streetlights in Colorado.

Janet Russell, owner of Creative Framing Art Gallery in Louisville, called the ban -- which starts Jan. 1 -- "crazy." Stephen LeBlang, owner of the north Boulder building that houses Ideal Market, said he doesn't "know where (Xcel) is coming from" and doesn't understand why the recently installed light poles on Broadway suddenly aren't tough enough to bear the weight of a few banners.

Jeannine Erlhoff, owner of Lafayette's Noble Treasures antique store, said the banners attached to the street lights lining Public Road are part of the feel and quaintness of Old Town.

"They give a fresh look to the town, and I think it lets people know about what's going on," she said.

But historic downtowns and shopping districts statewide are looking at a potential end to those visual flourishes as Xcel cracks down on a practice it had long allowed.

The utility says its streetlights weren't designed to bear the weight of banners, flags and decorations and that those objects can catch gusts of wind that could topple the poles, especially those corroded over time by magnesium chloride de-icer. The company also worries about people climbing the poles to bolt on objects and falling.

In a letter it sent to cities and towns across Colorado earlier this year, Xcel said beginning New Year's Day it will start exercising a provision in its franchise agreement that forbids any "non-policing" objects on its poles.

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"Xcel Energy is committed to helping the communities we serve by enhancing their business and shopping districts," the letter states. "However, Xcel Energy must balance our commitment to the cities' goals with safety concerns we have with the installation of non-tariff-approved police attachments on our facilities."

Russell, in Louisville, said Xcel's decision "is not comprehensible to me," as she looked out the front window of her shop Wednesday at a sturdy metal light pole decorated with a banner for the city's farmers market. She said it's ridiculous to think a banner could bring down such a solid-looking piece of equipment.

"It's part of the vibe of downtown -- the appeal," she said of the colorful banners hanging up and down Main Street. "It gives you the feeling of coziness and hominess, especially in a smaller town."

Vicki Trumbo, executive director of the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, said the city's downtown businesses rely on the banners to get word out about local events, like the Peach Festival or Art Night Out.

"I would hate to see that go away because I think it adds to the ambiance of downtown and creates an art community while advertising our events," she said.

Trumbo said the timing of Xcel's decision is "unfortunate" because it comes after Lafayette spent more than a year undergoing a "visioning process" to figure out what it needed to do to enhance and beautify Old Town to attract more shoppers and diners. Banners and other aesthetic improvements were a "huge component" of that effort, said Lafayette City Administrator Gary Klaphake.

Klaphake has taken a defiant approach to the impending ban, insisting that the city will hang American flags on streetlights during next year's Memorial Day weekend no matter what Xcel says. He said Lafayette spent $158,000 to install 24 specially designed light poles on Public Road 13 years ago. They are anchored to the ground, he said, in the same way that the city's traffic signal poles are.

"I find it quite ironic that they can hold up a signal arm but they can't hold up a banner," he said. "Somewhere, someplace in their system a pole must have fallen over and now all poles are bad."

Klaphake said Xcel is taking an "all or none" approach to the issue that treats all streetlights, weak and strong, alike. Several municipalities in the state have considered suing Xcel over the ban, hoping they can trade rights-of-way in town for the right to attach banners to Xcel's poles.

LeBlang said Boulder's Ideal Broadway Shops just installed new streetlights two years ago that were painstakingly reviewed and approved by Xcel for their ability to hold banners. He said the retail center regularly hangs seasonal banners to add a little color to the street.

"They've got special brackets that bend with the wind," he said.

But starting the first of the year, he said, it appears the shopping center's substantial investment in banners and brackets will all be for nothing.

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